First special CHARM issue of Musicae Scientiae (Fall 2007)

Document Contents

The following abstracts are taken from the first special CHARM issue of Musicae
Scientiae, 'Between science and art: Approaches to recorded music', Vol.
11, No. 2 (Fall 2007); click here to
access the sound examples and downloads related to the issue.

Andrew Earis

An algorithm to extract expressive timing and dynamics from
piano recordings

Measurable features of expressive piano performance include timing, dynamics,
articulation and pedalling. This paper concerns the measurement of expressive
timing and dynamics in audio recordings of piano music using a multi-stage
semi-automated expression extraction process. A digitised version of the musical
score is synchronised with the audio recording using a simple manual beat
tapping system. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is then employed, with a
Morlet wavelet, to correct the beat tapped times, and any further errors are
then corrected manually. Precise note and chord onset times and dynamics of the
recorded performance can then be calculated using the CWT. Sample results of the
measurement of expression in keyboard music by Bach are given and the
application of the algorithms to end users discussed.

Nicholas Cook

Performance analysis and Chopin's mazurkas

Reporting on work carried out in conjunction with Andrew Earis and Craig Sapp,
this paper introduces recently developed approaches to the analysis of recorded
music, illustrating them in terms of selected Chopin mazurkas. Topics covered
include the stylisic characterisation and aesthetic values of Paderewski's
playing of Op. 17 No. 4, contrasted with performances from the last quarter of
the twentieth century, as well as relationships between different pianists'
interpretations of Op. 68 No. 3. A possible performance genealogy of
performances of the latter is proposed, in which reocrdings by Rubinstein and
Cortot play a key role, while clustering based on Pearson correlation of tempo
data yields relationships supported in one instance by documented teacher/pupil
relationships. Representing the early outcomes of a more extended research
project, these findings are encouraging in that it appears possible to draw
meaningful conclusions from the consideration only of tempo data. The current
phase of the project is also working with rhythmic and dynamic data, which
should significantly enhance the potential for objective modelling of musically
meaningful relationships.

Daniel Leech Wilkinson

Sound and meaning in recordings of Schubert's "Die junge
Nonne"

Musicology's growing interest in performance brings it closer to musical science
through a shared interest in the relationship between musical sounds and
emotional states. However, the fact that musical performance styles change over
time implies that understandings of musical compositions change too. And this
has implications for studies of music cognition. While the mechanisms by which
musical sounds suggest meaning are likely to be biologically grounded, what
musical sounds signify in specific performance contexts today may not always be
what they signified in the past, nor what they will signify in the future.
Studies of music cognition need to take account of performance style change and
its potential to inflect conclusions with cultural assumptions. The recorded
performance history of Schubert's 'Die junge Nonne' offers examples of
significant change in style, as well as a range of radically contrasting views
of what the song's text may mean. By examining details of performances, and
interpreting them in the light of work on music perception and cognition, it is
possible to gain a clearer understanding of how signs of emotional state are
deployed in performance by singers. At the same time, in the absence of strong
evidence as to how individual performances were understood in the past, we have
to recognise that we can only speak with any confidence for our own time.

Renee Timmers

Vocal expression in recorded performances of Schubert songs

This exploratory study focuses on the relationship between vocal expression,
musical structure, and emotion in recorded performances by famous singers of
three Schubert songs. Measurement of variations in tempo, dynamics, and pitch
showed highly systematic relationships with the music's structural and emotional
characteristics, particularly as regards emotional activity and valence.
Relationships with emotional acrtivity were consistent across both singers and
musical pieces, while relationships with emotional valence were piece-specific.
Clear changes in performing style over the twentieth century were observed,
including diminishing rubato, an increase followed by a decrease of the use of
pitch glides, and a widening and slowing of vibrato. These systematic changes
over time concern only the style of performance, not the strategies deployed to
expresss the structural and emotional aspects of the music.

David N. C. Patmore and Eric F. Clarke

Making and hearing virtual worlds: John Culshaw and the art of
record production

A recording represents a paradoxical perceptual source: we can either attend to
the sound of the medium, or to the virtual world conveyed by
it, and the work of a record producer can be understood as either a process of
capturing performance or one of creating virtual worlds. This paper demonstrates
that the record producer John Culshaw had clear ideas about how recordings might
approach the condition of a work of art, rather than being simply the trace of a
moment in time. Culshaw's fundamental aesthetic and technical approach is
described and illustrated with reference to a number of key recordings. Taking
the relationship between sound recording and film as a starting point, and
making use of the concept of subject-position, the tension between Culshaw's
radical approach to the listener and traditional approach to the authority of
the score is explored. Possible reasons are proposed for the abandonment of his
ideas, and for the absence of a Culshaw legacy (apart from the recordings
themselves). The paper ends with a brief discussion of the current paradigm for
the recording of classcial music, which seeks in various ways to reproduce 'the
live experience' in 'the finest seat in the house'.

Keith Potter, Geraint A. Wiggins and Marcus T. Pearce

Towards greater objectivity in music theory: Information-dynamic
analysis of minimalist music

We present evidence for a relationship between two objective measures of the
information dynamics of music and points of structural importance in the music
as analysed by an expert musicologist. Our approach is motivated by ecological
validity: rather than taking musical stimuli and artificially simplifying them
to make their study tractable, we have sought and found music which is
appropriate to our study. We give a novel, detailed analysis of one piece,
Glass' Gradus, and show how the analysis corresponds with the
information dynamics of the piece as heard. To show that this correspondence
generalises, at least to music in a similar style by the same composer, we go on
to analyse Glass' Two Pages. We suggest that this research provdes
further evidence that information-dynamic modelling is a worthwhile approach to
the study of music cognition and also has the potential, if automated, to be a
powerful tool to increase objectivity in data-based music analysis.